SUMMARY OF TENTATIVE AGREEMENT ESTABLISHING TERMS OF 2019 NATIONAL AGREEMENT continued
A change to Article 16.5, providing that a suspension of fourteen (14) days — if a timely grievance is appealed to Step 2 — will not be served until disposition of the grievance, either by settlement, withdrawal, or an arbitrator’s final and binding decision. The MOU on Purging Letters of Warning has been obtained again for all Mail Handlers, and it will again apply to MHAs. A change to Article 17.5 will ensure that union representatives may attend orientation for new employees transferred to the Mail Handler craft. A separate letter from USPS management will reaffirm that local union representatives must be given advance notice of these orientation meetings. Article 30 is amended to establish the period for negotiations over Local Memoranda of Understanding to run for 30 consecutive days between May 2, 2020 and June 30, 2020. The Article 32 MOU on Subcontracting has been continued, as the parties continue to discuss insourcing of work from
the Surface Transportation Centers and the Mail Transport Equipment Service Centers (MTEC). A Task Force will be created under Article 35 to facilitate NPMHU representation on EAP committees at the District and National levels. All other MOUs and Letters of Intent, including the MOU on Filling of Residual Vacancies, have been continued, except for certain agreements relating to casual employees, which will remain in effect until all casuals are eliminated but then will be deleted from the 2019 National Agreement as obsolete. The Joint Education and Training Fund will be continued, with additional funding of $1 million per year. All other provisions of the 2016 National Agreement are being maintained, except for date changes or other cosmetic changes that may be necessary to accommodate the new contract.
HOUSE PASSES H.R. 2382 USPS FAIRNESS ACT
O
n Wednesday, February 5, members of the House of Representatives voted in favor of H.R. 2382, the USPS Fairness Act, calling to repeal the Postal Service’s mandate to prefund its retiree healthcare costs. The National Postal Mail Handlers Union, along with other postal unions, worked tirelessly to educate Representatives of the financial burden prefunding causes, creating an annual loss of $5 billion for over a decade. Because of this loss, the Postal Service has been forced to cut service standards and close facilities, and caused it to be unable to focus on revenue growth. By repealing the prefunding mandate, the Postal Service will return to a pay-as-you-go means of
funding retiree healthcare benefits, a practice that is used in all other federal agencies, and within the private sector. NPMHU, the National Association of Letter Carriers, the American Postal Workers, and the National Rural Letter Carriers Association expressed in a letter to members of House, “After 13 years of gridlock over more comprehensive postal reform, the USPS Fairness Act would ease the burden on Congress by reducing the size of the financial hole to be filled.” Upon the passage of the bill, NPMHU National President Paul V. Hogrogian commented, “This bill is an important first step towards obtaining fiscal stability for the Postal Service. As H.R. 2382 received overwhelming bipartisan support with a vote of
309–106, it is obvious Representatives recognize how vital the Postal Service is to all Americans.” However, today’s passage in the House does not mark the end of NPMHU’s efforts to repeal the prefunding mandate. In order for the USPS Fairness Act to become law, it needs to next be passed in the Senate, the signed by the President. On December 3, 2019, Senators Steve Daines (R-MT) and Brian Schatz (D-HI) introduced a introduced a companion bill, S. 2965, in the Senate. NPMHU will continue its dedicated work to fully repealing the prefunding mandate and other avenues to create a sustainable Postal Service while protecting its dedicated mail handlers.
12 | National Postal Mail Handlers Union
64920_MH_Mag_Winter20_X.indd 12
2/21/20 7:41 AM